Pentagon Studying Troop Cuts In 2005

July 8, 2004|By Eric Schmitt The New York Times and Information from The Washington Post was used to supplement this report

WASHINGTON — With an interim Iraqi government in place, the Pentagon is beginning long-range planning on how to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, senior military officials said Wednesday.

Pentagon officials have said that about 135,000 troops would stay in Iraq through the end of 2005.

But the military's Joint Staff is working on plans to reduce that number by 2006, on the assumption that Iraqi army and other security forces will by then be ready to take on more responsibility, officials said.

On Capitol Hill on Wednesday, the top operations officer for the Joint Staff, Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz of the Air Force, signaled that this thinking was well under way.

When asked about planning for the size of the U.S. force that will move into Iraq for yearlong assignments beginning in late 2005 and early 2006, he declined to specify troop figures but said, "There is a significant planning effort that will wrap up later this summer."

A senior defense official said the Joint Staff was developing options for a smaller force in Iraq, proposals that would be consistent with the goal of Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, to reduce U.S. military presence in Iraq over time.

Some officials said those options center around 100,000 troops, or less, but troop levels could also increase if security in Iraq worsened.

Democrats and Republicans expressed concern at Wednesday's hearing that the Army was wearing out its active duty and reserve forces, a worry that even a top Army officer said he shared.

"Are we stretched thin with our active and reserve component forces right now? Absolutely," said Gen. Richard A. Cody, the new Army vice chief of staff.

But Cody, along with the Pentagon's top personnel official, David S.C. Chu, said the Army was meeting its commitments, and recruiting and retention were still strong.

Chu also said there are no government plans to reinstate a military draft and the Bush administration does not support conscription.

"The administration does not support resumption of the draft," Chu said, responding to a question from Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa. "There is no secret plan on this front."

For the first time, Schwartz outlined the Pentagon's strategy for how Iraqi national guard and army forces could replace U.S. troops around the country, starting in the stable north where he said security patrols will soon be conducted by Iraqi forces.

In parts of the country where the insurgency is still fierce, U.S. forces will remain in strength and conduct patrols on their own or with Iraqi troops.

"The bottom line is, is that this will be done incrementally and it will be done in locations around Iraq where transitions can occur and the Iraqi security forces can be successful," said Schwartz. He said that as Iraqi forces prove they can secure a region, U.S. forces there will move to more restive areas.

Schwartz said that based on the experience of training indigenous forces in Afghanistan, it would be "several years" before Iraq would develop a full complement of security forces.

The U.S. Army, which is providing the bulk of the troops in Iraq, is preparing worst-case contingency plans to keep troop numbers at their current levels of 135,000 to 140,000 for the next several years, if necessary.

Information from The Washington Post was used to supplement this report.